Li Shi-Bin, Giardino William J, de Lecea Luis
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2017;33:93-104. doi: 10.1007/7854_2016_58.
How the brain controls vigilance state transitions remains to be fully understood. The discovery of hypocretins, also known as orexins, and their link to narcolepsy has undoubtedly allowed us to advance our knowledge on key mechanisms controlling the boundaries and transitions between sleep and wakefulness. Lack of function of hypocretin neurons (a relatively simple and non-redundant neuronal system) results in inappropriate control of sleep states without affecting the total amount of sleep or homeostatic mechanisms. Anatomical and functional evidence shows that the hypothalamic neurons that produce hypocretins/orexins project widely throughout the entire brain and interact with major neuromodulator systems in order to regulate physiological processes underlying wakefulness, attention, and emotions. Here, we review the role of hypocretins/orexins in arousal state transitions, and discuss possible mechanisms by which such a relatively small population of neurons controls fundamental brain state dynamics.
大脑如何控制警觉状态的转换仍有待充分了解。下丘脑泌素（又称食欲素）的发现及其与发作性睡病的关联，无疑使我们对控制睡眠与觉醒之间界限及转换的关键机制有了更深入的认识。下丘脑泌素神经元功能缺失（这是一个相对简单且无冗余的神经元系统）会导致睡眠状态控制不当，但不影响睡眠总量或稳态机制。解剖学和功能学证据表明，产生下丘脑泌素/食欲素的下丘脑神经元广泛投射至整个大脑，并与主要的神经调节系统相互作用，以调节觉醒、注意力和情绪等生理过程。在此，我们综述下丘脑泌素/食欲素在觉醒状态转换中的作用，并探讨如此少量的神经元控制基本脑状态动态的可能机制。
